PROVIDENCE UPDATE

EXpatriot13

All-Conference
GIVING DAY 2023
Mo Mbaye - Committed but ineligible
Blake Jones - Forced transfer after 2 years
Dinkins - 4th on the depth chart at Mason
Fernandez - Very solid. Lived up to reasonable expectations
Cam Walker - Committed but arrested for murder
Nnaji - Forced transfer after 1 year

Austin Ball - Committed and retained at Mason
Rich Barron - Committed and taken to Providence
Dez White - Committed and not retained at Mason. Went to Austin Peay.
Jordan Marsh - Committed and not retained at Mason. Went to App State.
Fernandez can't be questioned. If he doesn't live up to his billing then that's more on player development. The rest of that first group is a big YIKES.

It's obviously too early to tell with the second group. Did he have to settle on White & Marsh and that's why they're now at the programs they're at or are they diamonds in the rough? Who knows (but sign me up for Okojie over Marsh at this point). Here's hoping he found a stud in Austin Ball, don't really care what happens with the others.

He went 1/3 in the Oduro, Kolek, Miller sweeps. Would have been great to keep at least two, but was probably an impossible task (doesn't mean it's not disappointing).
 
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mkaufman1

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GIVING DAY 2023
Fernandez can't be questioned. If he doesn't live up to his billing then that's more on player development. The rest of that first group is a big YIKES.

It's obviously too early to tell with the second group. Did he have to settle on White & Marsh and that's why they're now at the programs they're at or are they diamonds in the rough? Who knows (but sign me up for Okojie over Marsh at this point). Here's hoping he found a stud in Austin Ball, don't really care what happens with the others.

He went 1/3 in the Oduro, Kolek, Miller sweeps. Would have been great to keep at least two, but was probably an impossible task (doesn't mean it's not disappointing).
Agree with this. I think this year is the last of “last stop guys coming with” with Ticket and Oduro. That’s what I was most excited about - guys like Ticket and Schwartz never would’ve been at Mason prior to English. And obviously Fernandez.

Don’t forget Daquan also decommitted so that’s another blemish as a whole.

No doubt it’s early for a lot of the true frosh group, but some of the other guys I def agree are big yikes. It’s one thing to pull previous stop guys, but you can’t rely on that forever.
 
Fernandez can't be questioned. If he doesn't live up to his billing then that's more on player development. The rest of that first group is a big YIKES.

It's obviously too early to tell with the second group. Did he have to settle on White & Marsh and that's why they're now at the programs they're at or are they diamonds in the rough? Who knows (but sign me up for Okojie over Marsh at this point). Here's hoping he found a stud in Austin Ball, don't really care what happens with the others.

He went 1/3 in the Oduro, Kolek, Miller sweeps. Would have been great to keep at least two, but was probably an impossible task (doesn't mean it's not disappointing).
Let's not kid ourselves- the 2023 class was looking rough, especially at the guard spots. Maybe one of White or Marsh shocks us all, but it feels like those were because it seems we missed on other key targets at that spot.

KE has also done a good job at recruiting wings, but has struggled with big men and PGs, the latter of which is hugely important. His work in the transfer portal has been genuinely solid for the most part, but his best gets have been guys he knows. Even if he's able to get after folks he formerly recruited, that pool is about to dry up in terms of proven talent.

He needs a big hit in the '24 class for PC and Davis was supposed to be it. The fact he's lost that now is a real detriment to him.
 

jessej

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GIVING DAY 2023
No doubt it’s early for a lot of the true frosh group, but some of the other guys I def agree are big yikes. It’s one thing to pull previous stop guys, but you can’t rely on that forever.
Or do we get a new bunch of previous stop guys but from Skinn and the other Assistant Coaches?
 
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Patriot8

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GIVING DAY 2023
It's obviously too early to tell with the second group. Did he have to settle on White & Marsh and that's why they're now at the programs they're at or are they diamonds in the rough? Who knows (but sign me up for Okojie over Marsh at this point). Here's hoping he found a stud in Austin Ball, don't really care what happens with the others.
To preface, I certainly don't want anything I say to come off as intentionally negative toward any of the players. I'll attempt to frame my comments solely from a KE standpoint.

KE never seemed to be overly comfortable recruiting at Mason. He was great at identifying high level talent, it just wasn't talent that was ever going to seriously consider Mason. Harris-Smith, Hansberry, Kaiser, Carrington, Williams, Posey, Lowe, Abraham, Ngongba, etc. These were all seen and promoted as "priorities" for months, even after it was clear most were unattainable. (Which could lead a conspiracy theorist to infer that KE could've been 1) Developing relationships for potential future transfer 2) Recruiting guys for his next stop)

After that group, there didn't really seem to be a plan other than getting 3-point shooting. Barron and Ball were nice, sensible gets. I am a bit surprised Barron ended up at Providence given what his recruitment looked like. I have every belief that Ball will be a solid contributor for Mason in the future, and I'm thrilled he chose to stay.

Regarding White & Marsh: My opinion is that they fit the description of guys who the staff had to scramble to "discover" because they wasted too much time on the aforementioned unattainable priorities. Not sure White was even on the radar until Peach Jam 2022, and Marsh was even later.

Our new staff is going to miss on guys, stay on guys too long, over-value, etc, but overall, I think they are far better equipped to have significant recruiting success here than the English regime.
 

DRK331

Starter
If you look at Kim English's Likes on Twitter, he is still liking Tweets about the Mason basketball program. (He's liked Tweets about Ronny Polite, Malik Henry, and Tony Skinn recently)

Also, it seems like Kim English, as a head coach, mostly so far has gotten 3 star kids to commit to him. Justyn Fernandez is the only 4 star guy (that I know of) to commit to KE, with KE being a head coach

Once the "previous stop guys" run out for KE, I'm interested in seeing how many wins he can get in a tougher league, and what kind of recruits he brings in.

If Kim English has mostly 3 star players on his roster, how many wins will he get in the Big East? Let's wait and find out.
 
Haha - no no, I'm not saying you shouldn't be negative or keep it real. Just saying things like "he thinks high of himself" or "what a swell guy", doesn't come across so great. Happy to share more on DM.

Simple example - and it means nothing but I thought it was cool, I dm'd him about a instagram story he put up a few days ago and he responded back. Message was silly (about traffic). But he took a second to see that, and then responded to an earlier emotional DM that I sent back in March when I was pissed but wished him well. He said he appreciated the words and was rooting for Tony. I think that's cool.

I'm with @HoopsAdmin - I think we all are thankful we had him when he did and hopefully he will do good things.

I admit it, I'm a Kim English fan and guy. So I'm going to mention whats going on at Providence and I know some folks want to talk about it as well. :thumps chest: lol.

My dream scenario is now Mason beating Providence in the NCAA tournament on a buzzer beater. Our players joyfully celebrating and KE dejectedly hanging his head.

I want us to get to the point where we are not a stepping stone be it for Miami or for Providence.
 

DRK331

Starter
The Big East has lots of 4 and 5 star guys in it

If Kim English has mostly 3 star players on his roster, how many wins will he get in the Big East?

Let's wait and find out.
 

Pikapppatri8

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While I get the need to rank players, how many times do we find that 2/3 stars blow up and some 4/5 stars blow up, but in a bad way.

Point is, you never know until play starts.
It's kind of like Tinder - you are forced to make decisions on a few data points that don't provide the complete picture. Until its too late........
 

JC_FoodcourtBandit

Preferred Walk-On
Mo Mbaye - Committed but ineligible
Blake Jones - Forced transfer after 2 years
Dinkins - 4th on the depth chart at Mason
Fernandez - Very solid. Lived up to reasonable expectations
Cam Walker - Committed but arrested for murder
Nnaji - Forced transfer after 1 year

Austin Ball - Committed and retained at Mason
Rich Barron - Committed and taken to Providence
Dez White - Committed and not retained at Mason. Went to Austin Peay.
Jordan Marsh - Committed and not retained at Mason. Went to App State.
Beat me to it, but my exact point. I think it’s fair to say he’s 1/6 in active players.

And as for his incoming freshman class no one jumps off and I was shocked to see Barron go to providence. Seems like he may get himself into a Dinkins situation there
 

gmujim92

Hall of Famer
GIVING DAY 2023
Beat me to it, but my exact point. I think it’s fair to say he’s 1/6 in active players.

And as for his incoming freshman class no one jumps off and I was shocked to see Barron go to providence. Seems like he may get himself into a Dinkins situation there
Garwey Dual was a top-40 recruit who originally committed to Cooley and decided to stay with KE. He is most likely gonna be in the NBA 2-3 years from now.

Kim also did well to get Eli DeLaurier as his stretch 4/5 once Josh moves on.

He’s going to get dudes at Providence. The 4 and 5-star guys he loves to recruit will sign on to play in the Big East. The question is his game coaching.
 

Patriot8

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GIVING DAY 2023
He’s going to get dudes at Providence. The 4 and 5-star guys he loves to recruit will sign on to play in the Big East.
We'll see. Even at Providence he will probably have to taper it back a bit. UConn will have their pick in that region. Pitino isn't too far away. Cooley. Miller. Still have the Villanova brand to contend with. Outside of the conference you have Rutgers and Maryland and all the other Big 10 schools that hammer the Northeast.

He's certainly in the position to punch closer to the weight he wants to fight at, but attracting elite talent on a consistent basis is not going to be easy.
 

gmujim92

Hall of Famer
GIVING DAY 2023
We'll see. Even at Providence he will probably have to taper it back a bit. UConn will have their pick in that region. Pitino isn't too far away. Cooley. Miller. Still have the Villanova brand to contend with. Outside of the conference you have Rutgers and Maryland and all the other Big 10 schools that hammer the Northeast.

He's certainly in the position to punch closer to the weight he wants to fight at, but attracting elite talent on a consistent basis is not going to be easy.
I became a true believer after KE successfully recruited Kennedy Chandler to Knoxville. He just wasn’t cut out for life at a mid-major, as you correctly pointed out it’s just not his sweet spot.
 
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mkaufman1

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It'll be fun to revisit this conversation in 3 years, when all the "I recruited so and so 5 years ago at so and so stop" guys are not eligible anymore.

Hopefully its after Tony made the NCAAs, and we've given him an extension and a really nice practice facility upgrade.
 
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